I posted this thread on a trap shooting board that I have frequented for the last three years and got more no's than yes's.
What is the sentiment here?

An Opportunity of a Lifetime or Two weeks of Worrying

My youngest son (almost 21) has been invited to Israel over his Christmas break from college. His childhood and college buddy is a videographer, who has a grant to make a documentary. My son has been a member of his film crew for several small projects and was asked to help, mainly as his soundman but as its only a two man crew he should mostly be his gopher. His mother and I feel this would be a great experience for him and not just a trip to pick up girls like all his previous explorations. The political climate may not be the best for travel to that destination in our current times but I don’t feel its my place to tell him no. Has anyone out there made this trip and do you have any reservations about going at this time?

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"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
Abraham Lincoln

But regardless, not just NO but HELL NO. While I agree going to Israel would be fascinating but the climate is extremely dangerous, random acts of violence is rampant with suicide bombers. People I know who have family in Israel, are being told by their own family not to come.

You can't be safe anywhere, just listen to international news and you'll hear all about shopping malls, ice cream palors that have been attacke. Any public places can potentially be attacked by these bombers even in communties that have no history of bombing. Plus with all the crap going on with Iraq, the first place those scuds are going is Israel.

I'm not one to be overtly cautious, I went to Egypt this last summer but it's different there are specific areas to avoid but Israel is an entirely different story.

While he is 21, I would strongely warm him against this, I'm 23 and really strong warning from my dad or mom (with good reason) would make me at least reconsider what I'm doing.

Yeah, my wife sees this promoter for Israeli tourism on one of the tv stations and gets all excited about going to Israel....but the only way I want to see it is over Jesus' shoulder after the rapture and the wedding feast. AS things are now...no way!

Yes, absolutely. I would never pass up a chance to go on a trip like this. The percieved danger of being caught in a bombing or whatever is really minimal. Certainly less than driving on a public highway.

- Chris

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"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him." – Robert Heinlein

"Contrary to popular belief, your vote does not matter, and you cannot make a difference." - Bob Murphy, "Picking Neither of Two Evils"

I'll start this by saying that if all goes as planned (what ever does though) I plan to be in Israel all of next summer studying in Yeshiva. I'll probably be in one of the higher risk areas as well. But then I am an Orthodox Jew so I have religious reasons for being there.

In your son's case I guess there are pros and cons.

We all know the cons, terrorism, though I think most people overestimate the odds of something happening to them. We see the big attacks on the news constantly and overestimate the danger. We don't see millions of people living their day to day lives. The murder bombings and shootings are horrible, nearly a thousand have been killed in the attacks, thousands have been injured or effected (psychological trauma from witnessing the carnage or the loss of family members and friends). However, the chances of it effecting any particular visitor are virtually zero, there are several million people living there. I don't want to minimize the situation, it is a national tragedy. Many people have been directly effected- someone they know has been killed. Many more live near an attack, many make living adjustments (bus travel there is very common and the busses are a major target so people take more expensive alternatives). Just remember that this is a country where life goes on, the chances of any individual being killed or injured are low, and not living there for a long period of time the psychological trauma of losing friends or acquaintences or seeing an attack just aren't likely to effect your son.

The pros, well the current terrorism war being waged against Israel has greatly hurt Israeli tourism (an incredibly important part of Israel's economy). Right now there are deals on airfare, hotels and other touristy stuff that can't be beat. Also, the people there recognize the importance of foreign visitors, and added to that is the recognition that people going there now is a kind of political statement (especially appreciated when the visitor isn't Jewish) so the goodwill and appreciation he'd receive now would be immeasurable.

Then there are the usual pros:
-Israel is holy ground to the three major Western religions. The spiritual aspects of the trip would be immense.
-It is a beautiful country.
-It is a great place for history buffs
-It has great world class resorts and hotels

Whenever you get a chance to travel to another part of the world Take It. The only way to get the store bought, media produced prejudices out of your system is to see it first hand. After you see a place for a while it seems to become appairant that polititions and the small vocal whiney twits are the representation of a country. The , work every day and take care of business, people are a whole nother critter. Somewhere it was written that for every so many thousand population there had to be a Jesse Jackson and a Pat Buchanan.

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